Case Number 22413

THE 5TH QUARTER (BLU-RAY)

The Charge

Rising from tragedy to triumph.

Opening Statement

These guys lay it on thick.

Facts of the Case

The Abbate family suffers a shocking loss, when their youngest son dies in a
car crash. Numb with grief, they look desperately to piece together their
shattered lives. The eldest son, Jon (Ryan Merriman), is fraught with despair,
but thanks to the support of his loved ones and his football coach at Wake
Forest University (subliminal message: "Go to Wake Forest University!"), he
decides to channel his emotion and dedicates the football season to the memory
of his brother.

The Evidence

As a faith-centered film, The 5th Quarter is already placed on an
uphill climb to street credibility; there's a reputation (earned or unearned)
that these God-explicit productions can be, to put it mildly, corny. And
this is coming from a believer, brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, as one of
the go-to reviewers of Christian films for DVD Verdict, I've experience
first-hand the lopsided ratio of saccharine films to...well, movies that aren't
overly-sentimental.

Hey, emotion is important, but this genre tends to really lather it on, and
the solid uplifting messages get lost in a sea of melodrama. The 5th
Quarter is a prime example.

At its core, there's a legitimately moving story of healing and coping with
grief. The Godliness is also evident. It's handled fine, with the writing not
shying away from the Christian influence, but keeping things from getting too
preachy. Granted, there are scenes with actual preaching, but whatever, it's a
funeral.

The problem is, there's no restraint when it comes to the on-screen
grieving. The entire first third is devoted to the trauma and, while the last
thing I want to do is minimize the impact of the accident -- The 5th
Quarter is based on a true story, after all -- by drawing the events out for
so long, writer/director Rick Bieber lessens the effectiveness of the
circumstances.

The last two thirds are devoted to Wake Forest's ("Consider attending Wake
Forest University!") meteoric rise through the standings, as seemingly everyone
rallies around Jon's brother's death. The problem here? All the football footage
is culled from real, archival games. That's interesting in theory, but after the
first few games it just seems...cheap. You can't recreate some cool
football moments for us? There are plenty of crisp clear shots of Andie McDowell
and Aidan Quinn in the stands cheering, but when action turns to the gridiron
it's all fuzzy VHS-quality on-field action. Bleh.

Regardless of the quality of those sequences, The 5th Quarter looks
decent on Blu-ray. The 1.85:1/1080p (AVC-encoded) widescreen is mostly sturdy
throughout, nicely-detailed and vibrant. Despite the despondency of the first
act, this is designed to be an inspiring film and the clean, bright visual
fidelity reflects the go-get-'em-champ attitude. The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
track offers a fairly subdued mix, save for the occasional montage and sequences
of cheering fans. Extras: a making-of featurette.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

I may have thought The 5th Quarter was too much, but there's no
getting around it: this is a family-friendly film that tries to tackle (so to
speak) big stuff and merely gets bogged down in its own sentimentality. Could be
worse things to do with your movie.

Closing Statement

Subtlety is not a virtue of The 5th Quarter. Its good heart is
obstructed from the overwrought nature, but if your family is tired of poop
jokes in the Transformers movies, it might be a welcome respite. Adequate
Blu-ray.